Virtualization of Microsoft Exchange Server

Microsoft Exchange Server is a product which is used for making the purpose of emailing faster. This software is designed to make the work more efficient. Since nowadays the e-mail pays a vital role in the business dealings, so many companies are going for the Microsoft Exchange Server which has made their work much easier and faster. Microsoft Exchange Server not only has increased the reliability but also provides the feature if adding servers for other applications and hence its utilization makes the workload much easier.

The main advantage of the Microsoft Exchange Server is that it is used for providing security enhancement to many software packages.

Harmful threats like viruses spam and hackers can be neutralized by the use of this server.

Hence it is much more reliable and provides the confidence to the customers and employees that their email system is well protected and full potential utilization of their system can be done with the help of this server.

• Going for the virtualization of Microsoft Exchange Server: -

i. This server provides a cost effective technique and hence providing a simpler business environment. The use and costs of e-mails can be managed and hence the complexities which are increasing day by day can be controlled by the use of M.E. server.

ii. Besides the helpful features like flexibility, increase availability, reduction in cost, disaster recovery simplifications, your hardware products can be tested and provided with a valid virtual solution. This is the technique used in the virtualization of this server.

iii. These services are provided by the two leading software companies - Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and VMware (leading data storage enterprise).

• Advantages of virtualization of Microsoft Exchange Server: -

It helps in increasing the reliability of the email system and also improves the disaster tolerant system by providing efficient infrastructure.

i. By encapsulating the Exchange Servers into virtual machines, it helps in simplifying the recovery of data for the improvement in the Exchange infrastructure.

ii. The VMware Infrastructure plays an important role in protecting the servers. So it is even more powerful technique with virtual machine.

It helps in improving the performance by the information exchange.

i. With the introduction of 'New 64-bit architecture' in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, the performance of the system has improved as much more RAM usage can be done with the better coordination with VMware virtual machine.

ii. Hence better access to the disk can be done and more memory can be used.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Virtualizing-of-Microsoft-Exchange-Server&id=1156138

Protect Data with Exchange Server 2007

Lucid8 delivers next-generation automated disaster prevention, optimization, protection, and recovery solutions for Microsoft® Exchange. Today, Lucid8 has over six-thousand product implementations to customers worldwide ranging from SMEs to Fortune 100 companies worldwide whose businesses depend on Microsoft Exchange 5.5, 2000, 2003, and 2007.

Fear of loss compels us to protect ourselves, our cars, our homes, our families and our friends. Our concerns for potential loss encourage us to take precautions to help mitigate risks. This is why most of us exercise, take our cars into the shop when they make unexplained noises or motions, and buy insurance policies in case of other catastrophic losses. I seriously hope that no one’s life is in danger from his or her messaging system, but I am fairly certain that most companies would be wounded should a catastrophic problem occur within the Exchange environment.

Exchange Server 2007 is as self-healing as Exchange has ever been, but without a healthy hardware platform, drivers, Active Directory, DNS, network, and regular policy management, it can go belly-up faster than you can say cardiac arrest. To make matters even worse, many Exchange administrators are not current with the latest CPR techniques nor have they been practicing preventive maintenance on their Exchange databases in order to minimize unplanned downtime. In this white paper, you will learn the bare and necessary facts you should know to proactively maintain your Exchange Server 2007 environment.

In order to download the Protecting Your Data with Exchange Server 2007 whitepaper, please fill out the form below: You will find form here:

http://windowsitpro.com/Whitepapers/Index.cfm?fuseaction=ShowWP&WPID=393a7bec-e173-483c-b887-95b1cf858e28&code=winflink

How to Creating mail users in Exchange Server 2007

Mail users are actual accounts in your Active Directory, but their email does not reside within your Exchange environment; they use their own messaging system, Hotmail account, etc. This may sound a lot like a contact, but the difference is that a contact is an object that represents someone who neither has a mailbox in your Exchange environment nor an Active Directory account, whereas the mail user still has an Active Directory account.

To create a mail user in the Exchange Management Console, begin by navigating to the Mail User node under Recipient Configuration in the console tree. In the action pane, click the New Mail User link (Figure A) to start the New Mail User Wizard.



Navigate to the Mail User node:-



Beginning the New Mail User Wizard:-

Since you are creating a user within Active Directory, you first need to provide user account information on the User Information page of the wizard, as shown in Figure 3-35. Then, because the user will utilize an outside messaging system, you will need to provide his or her external email address, as shown in Figure 3-36.



Provide account information when creating a new mail user:-



Used For Referrence: http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid43_gci1333150,00.html

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Security features

Microsoft announced Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 and opened a technology preview for the software. Exchange Server 2007 SP1 features enhancements such as support for Windows Server 2008, enhanced integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, and improved mobile device management and advanced security technology.

Among other new features of Exchange Server 2007 SP1, these are security related ones:



Additional Exchange ActiveSync policies

New Exchange ActiveSync policies in SP1 build on Exchange Server 2007's robust security and management features with new policies for synchronization, authentication and encryption. For businesses with more advanced data protection needs, Exchange Server 2007 SP1 offers device, network and application controls. These new features allow network administrators to help manage and secure Exchange ActiveSync-enabled mobile devices.

Enhanced security

Microsoft also unveiled Forefront Security for Exchange Server SP1, which integrates with Exchange Server 2007 SP1 to provide an extra layer of security for even greater protection and control. Forefront Security for Exchange Server includes multiple scan engines from industry-leading security firms integrated in a single solution to help protect against viruses, worms and spam. The new service pack for Forefront Security for Exchange Server features improvements in content filtering and manageability as well as support for Windows Server 2008.

Source: net-security.org/secworld.php?id=5423

Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1

This is a heads up that Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 is in the final stages of getting released and should be out in a couple of days. The next step for the Exchange team will be to release the Update Rollup onto the Download Center and then publish it to Microsoft Update. Microsoft Update publishing will happen 2-3 weeks after the Download Center publishing, due to internal policies and processes. We will let you know when this happens.

Regarding the overall patching experience, we have addressed the issue of Exchange 2007 managed services might time out during certificate revocation checks. While we will have a full list of issues fixed when the Rollup releases, some of major issues are:

• CDCR: Need an option to apply ELC policy to only the root instead of applying it recursively to root and all subfolders
• CDCR: Add generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false" to Exchange Services Config Files
• SCR does not copy logs in a disjoint namespace scenario
• SCR cannot be enabled when DNS suffixes differ on source/target in disjoint namespace scenarios
• Exchange 2007 CAS cannot copy the OAB from the OAB share on Windows Server 2008-based Exchange 2007 CCR clusters
• Messages get stuck in outbox on Windows Mobile 6.1 devices When using CAS proxy
• CDCR: MSI patching doesn't update logon.aspx if the file is modified by customer

Source:bink.nu/news/update-rollup-5-for-exchange-server-2007-sp1-is-almost-out-the-door.aspx

Microsoft Launches Online Exchange, SharePoint

Microsoft on Monday officially launched hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint, two of its biggest on-premise cash cows, and continued to drive home the message that channel partners have nothing to fear from Microsoft's plan to move all its enterprise apps to the cloud.

Exchange Online and SharePoint Online are part of Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), which also includes Live Meeting and Office Communications Server, although the latter is still in beta and won't be available until next spring.

At a launch event in San Francisco, Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, said companies can reap cost savings of between 10 and 50 percent by moving to Microsoft-hosted SharePoint and Exchange services.

In July at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, some solution providers were upset by the commission structure for BPOS as well as by Microsoft's revelation that it would take over control of billing customers.

Exchange Online is priced at $10 per user/month, SharePoint Online per user/month is $7.25. Office Communications Server Online will be $2.50 per user/month, and LiveMeeting will be $4.50 per user/month. Microsoft will offer these services in one-year automatically renewing agreements.

At the Monday launch event, Elop insisted that Microsoft has maintained "a deliberate dependence" on its partner ecosystem by offering VARs the chance to develop recurring revenue streams.

To illustrate what Elop described as the "absolutely overwhelming" channel response to Exchange and SharePoint Online, Microsoft had several partners on hand to discuss deployment scenarios. These case studies helped underscore Microsoft's mantra that VARs can adapt their business models by focusing on value-added migration and customization services.

"The whole world is changing. It requires change, but it's representative of what's going on in the market today," said Elop.

Adam Smith, director of marketing at Phase 2 International, a Honolulu, Hawaii-based solution provider, says in the current economic environment, his customers are finding it easier to pay a monthly subscription as opposed to a major one-time capital expenditure.

Smith admits that the Microsoft's WPC announcement was initially ominous for Microsoft hosting partners, but said the practical realities of deploying on-premise Microsoft apps quickly dissolved those fears.

"We've never had a customer who was satisfied with an out-of-the-box, Microsoft application," Smith said. "Every customer, without exception, has required some level of support, training, integration, or customization."

Source: crn.com

Why does the user name get rejected when some users log in to Exchange Server 2007 via POP3?

Question:- Why does the user name get rejected when some users log in to Exchange Server 2007 via POP3?

Answer:- We're all familiar with the user principal name (UPN); it includes a user's log-on name, the @ symbol, followed by the domain name. Errors can occur when users have a UPN that exceeds 40 characters, which is the default limit for POP3 set by the MaxCommandSize setting. You can resolve this issue in one of two ways. The first method just increases the value of MaxCommandSize, this way:

• Start the Exchange Management Shell.
• Type Get-POPSettings to view current settings. You'll notice the default value is 40.
• To increase the value to 50 (the upper limit is 1,024 bytes), type Set-POPSettings -MaxCommandSize 50
• Restart POP3 for the changes to take effect.

2. The second method increases the value of MSExchPopImapCommandSize via the Adsiedit.msc snap-in. It's a bit more complicated...

Via:mcpmag.com